“The low ceiling that was water stained and boasting spiders so large she half expected Frodo and Sam to appear and fight them off.”

“Oui, oui, he snapped with an obvious lack of awe. "Ding dong the demon's dead, now can we admireour delightful handiwork someplace where the ceiling is not about to cave in and your oh-so-handsomevampire is not about to become a dust bunny? (Levet)”

“Even if there was such a thing as a half-price sale at the local Ming outlet shop, she would have to work ten lifetimes to make up such a sum. Always supposing that it wasn't one of a kind.Panic was no longer merely rearing. It was thundering through her at full throttle.There was only one thing to be done, she realized. The mature, responsible, adult thing to do.Hide the evidence.”

“Keeping low to avoid the branches that blocked their paths, they scurried through the dark. Dante with his usual elegant silence and Abby crashing behind him like a bull elephant with a tranquilizer stuck in its butt.”

“A family is like medicine." She twisted her lips into a sardonic smile. "Best in small doses.”

“Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" she gritted. "The kitchen? The sewers? The fires of hell?”

“Do you have to skulk about like that?""No, I don't suppose I have to skulk about.... I simply enjoy doing so.""Well, it's a very vulgar habit.”